7 nights & 8 days Yunnan Highlights Tour

Tour Code: Tour D
Length: 7 nights & 8 days
Sightseeing:

 

Day 1:
Upon your arrival at Kunming, "the Spring and Flower City", our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure.

 

Day 2:
Today, you will enjoy a full day trip to the Stone Forest, which is about 90km to the south of Kunming.

    * Stone Forest (Shilin): a 270-million-year-old limestone karst formation of tightly bundled gray rocky outcrops, a natural wonder acknowledged as "World Karst Landscape Museum", the Stone Forest shows a variety of unique shapes such as sword, mushrooms, tower, pillar, castle representing the greatest miracle that the nature can present to human beings.

 

Day 3:
After breakfast, be transferred to the airport and take the morning flight to Dali. Upon your arrival, be met and transferred to the city by our local guide. The visit today in this lovely city includes cruise on Erhai, Xizhou Bai Minority Village, Three Pagodas and the Dali Ancient Town.

    * Dali: located on the side of the Cang Mountain 400 kilometres to the west of Kunming, with 1900-meter altitude, it is a historical and cultural city inhabited by Bai people, most of whom live in the houses consisting of three rooms and a screen wall.

   * Erhai: in the shape of an ear, covering 250 square kilometres, with its vast pool of water shining under the sun like a sheet of vivid green and the snow mantles of the Cang Mountain reflecting quiveringly in it, it is known poetically as "Silver Cang Mountain and Jade-like Erhar".
    * Xizhou Bai Minority Village: a photogenic village 20km north of Dali, where Bai minority people are living and where you will can get some ideas of the Bais' flair for architecture and elegant living.
    * Three Pagodas: at the foot of the Zhonghe Peak of the Cang Mountain, part of Chongshen Monastery, they are an emblem of the city's venerated history. The tallest of the trio, which is 69.13 metres tall, was built in 836 AD, while two smaller ones were built during a later period. No visit to Dali is complete with a call at these three pagodas.
    * Dali Ancient Town: first established in 1382 AD, with a moat surrounding, this old town has a typical layout like a chessboard, old-timey roofed buildings with dark blue tiles and the white and gray tall walls.

 

Day 4:
In the morning, drive to Lijiang (3-hour drive), along the way, you will stop by the Heqing County, pay a visit to Heqing Villages & Xinhua Village. Upon your arrival at Lijiang County, you will have an excursion to the Ancient Town and the Lion Hill. Overnight at Lijiang County.

    * Heqing County: heqing means celebration of cranes, because the legend goes that when the county was established on a lucky day, many cranes got together to celebrate this happy moment. Now Heqing County is a county with multi-minorities such as Bai, Yi, Miao, Dai peoples, etc.
    * Heqing Village & Xinhua Village: famous for its handicraft craftsmanship of long history, where you can visit gold-making, silver-making workshops, etc. and do some shopping of them if you feel like.
    * Lijiang County: located in the northwest of Yunnan Province, 544 km away from Kunming, perched at bottom of the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it is one of the National Scenic Areas and famed for its Ancient Town of Dayan, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, rich culture of different ethnic minorities and so many more.

  * Lijiang Ancient Town: also called Dayan Town, built in the late song dynasty and the early Yuan dynasty with a history of more than 800 years, this ancient town consists of clean streams flowing freely through the raod network, the colorful cobbled streets, age-old swaying willow trees, age-old buildings and stone bridges. There are over 22 different ethnic minorities making Lijiang their home, now and then you may see local folks in their own tradtional dress. Strolling around this charming ancient town, you will be attracted by the unique atmosphere and surprised by its ancient yet simple sense of "Harmony of Heaven and Man."
    * Lion Hill: the name is derived from its resemblance of a lion playing a ball, the mountain is best known for its vast and green pines and cypresses planted mostly in Ming Dynasty with over 500 years old, from the Tower of Eternity (Wangoulou) on the top of the mountain, you can enjoy a bird's eye view of the ancient town and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain far away.

 

Day 5:
Today, you will enjoy a full day trip to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the Baisha Mural Paintings, the Black Dragon Pool Park and Museum of Naxi Dongba Culture inside the park.

    * Jade Dragon Snow Mountain: it is so called because it looks like a flying jade dragon from afar. The mountain consists of 13 peaks and sprawls 35 km from north to south, its glacier is the modern oceanic glacier closest to the equator in the Northern Hemisphere. By taking the cable car up to certain height, you can enjoy the expansive mountains views and snowy scenery.
    * Baisha Mural Paintings: located in Baisha Township, 8km north of Lijiang, there are altogether 53 groups of mural paintings in different temples with fine and smooth lines, bright colors, vivid pattern and harmonious composition. Painted from the early days of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911),these mural paintings are an artistic representation of the different religious cultures such as Buddhism, Lamaism, Daoism and the Naxi Dongba religion.

    * Black Dragon Pool Park: where you can see the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from afar and the reflection of the mountain in the pool in a clear day, this park is the source of the water system of the Old Lijiang Town as the clean spring from Jade Dragon Snow Mountain gathers here.
    * Museum of Naxi Dongba Culture: where you will see the exhibitions of Naxi culture and dress, Dongba script, information on Lijiang's old town and so on.

 

Day 6:
After breakfast, you will have a full day trip to the First Bend of the Yangtze River and Iron Chain Bridge in the Shigu (Stone Drum) Town, and then Tiger Leaping Gorge. Drive about 100km to Zhongdian (Shangri-la County) afterwards, where you will stay overnight.

    * Shigu (Stone Drum) Town: standing on a green hill, overlooking the First Bend of the Yangtze River with terraced rice fields on the mountains, the town has witnessed many historical events as it has been a natural ferry and a fortress to be seized by the strategists since ancient times. Its sites of interests include Iron Chain Bridge and Opera Platform built in Qing Dynasty, Stone Drum Pavilion and so on.
    * First Bend of the Yangtze River: formed by the Yangtze River rushing down from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with a sharp turn of 45 degrees at Shigu (Stone Drum) Town before the river continues running on to northeast.
    * Tiger Leaping Gorge: 92 km north of Lijiang County, between peaks of over 3,000 meters above the Jinsha River (upper course of Yangtze River), the legend goes that tigers often leap to the other side of the river by a huge rock lying in the middle of the river at the entrance of the Gorge, hence the name, this 17-kilometer-long Gorge is honored as the deepest and one of the most marvelous gorges on the earth.

   * Zhongdian (Shangri-la County): the capital of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where there are beautiful snow mountains, vast grasslands, plateau lakes, and exotic Tibetan customs, recently it has got the name Shangri-la which means "the sun and the moon in the heart" in Tibetan language.

 

Day 7:
The full-day excursion today will bring you to Bita Lake, Napa Lake, Gedan Songzanlin Monastery. In the evening, pay a visit to a Tibet family, where you will enjoy a local Singing and Dancing Show with some special snacks.

    * Bita Lake: 35km away from the County, meaning "the place where roburs become felts", it is a lake surrounding by mountains with clear water and abundant fish resources. Due to the road condition, you need to walk 7km on your own or ride a horse before you can get to the lake.
    * Napa Lake: 8km away from the County, meaning "the lake beside the forest", it is a lake on the plateau in the depths of the Yila Grass with mirror-like water and lots of precious fowls.
    * Gedan Songzanlin Monastery(Guihua Monastery): first built in 1679 AD and has been rebuilt many times, , it is the biggest and the most important monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in Yunnan province. The architectural style of the building is a faithful imitation of the Potala Palace, so it is called as "the Small Potala Palace" and "Tibetan Art Museum".

 

Day 8:
Free in the day until our local guide escorts you to the airport for your flight to your next destination.